Emily Blunt has been on the verge of major stardom ever since her sit-up-and-take-notice supporting turn in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, but her climb to the top has been slow and not always successful despite stunning lead performances in the likes of The Young Victoria, Into the Woods, and Sicario. She finally has a role where she is front and center as the sole star of The Girl on the Train.

The film, based on a best-selling novel, is skillfully directed by Tate Taylor (The Help). It gives Blunt plenty to sink her teeth into as a woman obsessed with the lives of her ex-husband, his new wife and child, and their babysitter. Commuting daily on the Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson line, she can’t help but be drawn to the lovely suburban home that was hers before the divorce. She calls the house to talk to her ex-husband who won’t talk to her. She goes to the house to hold the baby she couldn’t give him herself. Then she insinuates herself into the life of the babysitter, as well as the babysitter’s husband and shrink. She does this all through an alcoholic haze in which she may have even murdered the babysitter. It’s only when she stops drinking that she sees clearly what has been going on.

Since the film is narrated by and from Blunt’s point of view, the audience is as confused as she is as to what’s real and what isn’t until it becomes clear near the end. In the meantime, we are treated to some expert acting not only from Blunt, but from a strong supporting cast as well. Rebecca Ferguson as her husband’s new wife is an enigmatic figure who is difficult to read. Haley Bennett as the babysitter is a tragic figure even before she’s murdered. Justin Theroux as the ex-husband keeps his feelings under wraps. Luke Evans as the babysitter’s husband is ready to explode at any moment. Edgar Ramirez as the shrink is smoothness personified.

Who killed the babysitter? If you’re an avid mystery buff, you will have figured it out long before detective Allison Janney has it handed to her on a silver platter, but you may still find it fun getting there.

The Girl on the Train is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

One of the most exciting TV series of 2015 was the breakthrough cyber-security thriller Mr. Robot, created by Sam Esmail, with a breakthrough performance by Rami Malek in a well-deserved Emmy-winning role and veteran actor Christian Slater in a Golden Globe-winning role. I sat transfixed, binge-watching the series in one sleepless night. I looked forward to doing the same thing with the second season, but had a totally different experience.

I could only watch Season 2 in small doses. The first third or so was torturous, the second third boring, and the last third an equal helping of both extremes. I have never seen a series go from such a high to such a low in just one season. Unless the critical consensus for the third season is that the show has regained the compelling foot-hold it had on its audiences on the first go-round, I won’t be watching either from week to week or on a binge when the season ends.

Mr. Robot: Season 2 is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Warner Archive has released a Blu-ray upgrade of John Sturges’ Bad Day at Black Rock, a 1955 Oscar nominee for Best Direction, Screenplay, and Actor, Spencer Tracy. Set in a modern western town ten years earlier, the film has the look and feel of a traditional western, but is better described as a crime drama and mystery.

Tracy, who also won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival, has one of his best late career roles as a stranger who comes to town at the end of World War II, looking for the Japanese-American father of a war hero, but runs up against the town’s conspiracy of silence. Robert Ryan as the town bully, Anne Francis as the only visible woman in town, John Ericson as her brother, Dean Jagger as the cowardly alcoholic sheriff, Walter Brennan as the town doctor, and Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin as Ryan’s thugs all turn in memorable performances.

The film looks stunning on Blu-ray. Extras include a commentary from film historian Diana Polan that was on the old MGM DVD, but alas, not the definitive commentary from Sturges that was on the old Criterion laserdisc.

Criterion itself has released a 4K Blu-ray restoration of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1975 film Fox and His Friends. One of the prolific director’s most acclaimed works, it was the 22nd of the 44 films he made in a 16-year period. It succeeded The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant by three years and Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by a year and preceded The Marriage of Maria Braun by four and his last, Querelle, by seven.

One of the most devastating examinations of both class conflicts and the evils of money, Fassbinder plays a circus worker nicknamed “Fox” who is picked up by an older man (Peeping Tom‘s Karl Bohm) who introduces him to two of his upper-class friends (Peter Chatel, Harry Baer). The next day he wins a half million Deutsche Marks in the lottery and is taken advantage of by his new friends who use him until he runs out of money. The cruelty on display in the film’s final scenes is heartbreaking.

Criterion has provided its usual wealth of extras which includes an on-camera interview with Harry Baer, one of only three actors in the film still alive. The other two are women who had minor roles. Most of the actors who died, did so at early age, including Fassbinder who committed suicide in at the age of 37 in 1982.

Criterion has also released a 2K Blu-ray restoration of Federico Fellini’s Roma, a 1972 film that is regarded as part of an unofficial trilogy of basically non-narrative films that the director made between 1969 and 1973. It was made between Fellini’s Satyricon and Amarcord and originally released in the U.S. as Fellini’s Roma.

The film is a mesmerizing, if basically chaotic procession of scenes detailing the various people and events in the of life of Italy’s capital. It begins following a young boy, then a young man, and ultimately Fellini himself. Its highlights include a variety showcase in a theatre at the end of World War II, a traffic jam in front of the Coliseum in then-contemporary Rome, and a fashion show of religious wear in which the models are priests, nuns, bishops, cardinals, and even the Pope himself. The film also marks the last screen appearance of the legendary Anna Magnani, who died in 1973. She is given a brief cameo as herself poo-pooing her legend near the end of the film.

The extras include an interview with director Paulo Sorrentino (The Young Pope) on Fellini’s lasting influence on filmmakers.

This week’s new releases include The Light Between Oceans and Sherlock: Series 4.